Learning from the Many Missteps Along the Mississippi

Amid the political headlines over the last few weeks, one piece of news went under the radar: how freaking hot it’s been. To bring us back to earth, I thought I’d share a recent conversation with journalist Boyce Upholt about the Mississippi River.

In The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi, Boyce delivers a winding history of the “chaos” of the river, and American efforts to tame it. In conversation, we discussed the ever-changing nature of the Mississippi and the transformation of surrounding areas from Indigenous homeland into private property. There are lessons to learn, Boyce says, by not fighting against the river.